OTTAWA — The Mounties have been asked to investigate whether a former Liberal cabinet minister charged taxpayers for the cost of his son’s wedding reception seven years ago.

The allegations against former Liberal MP Joe Fontana, currently the mayor of London, Ont., emerged with media reports suggesting he may have used his office expense account to cover the more than $20,000 bill to pay for a hall and reception for the wedding, held in 2005.

In a statement on his website, Fontana said he was not aware of any investigation into his past spending as a federal politician, but that he was also looking into what transpired seven years ago.

“I will get to the bottom of this and I have started to obtain and review available documentation from 2005,” his statement said. “I am confident a thorough and fair review will clearly demonstrate all transactions were proper and valid.”

An all-party committee that oversees MP spending has asked the RCMP to investigate the allegations, but the incident raised questions about the secretive aspect of how MPs use their office budgets. The Board of Internal Economy annually reports how much MPs have used of their budgets, but details are not released.

“Many improvements have been made, but the authorities are going to handle the question. They have the case in hand right now and I trust the RCMP to do a good job,” said NDP House leader Nathan Cullen.

Fontana, a former labour minister in the Paul Martin government, resigned from Parliament in 2006 after nearly 18 years in federal politics to run for the mayoralty in London.

Fontana is currently halfway through his second term in the mayor’s office. He did not respond to requests for comment Friday.The London Free Press reported it had obtained a cheque from Public Works and Government Services Canada for $1,700 that was used to cover the deposit for the hall at the London Marconi Club. A former manager at the club alleged there was a second government-issued cheque worth $18,900, but the report did not indicate if the paper had seen that cheque.

The current manager of the club, contacted Friday, said she had no comment.

It will be up to the Mounties to determine if there are any grounds to lay criminal charges against anyone.

“We will trust the experienced officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to get to the bottom of this very serious matter and determine whether any taxpayer money was abused by the senior Liberal cabinet minister,” Conservative MP Susan Truppe told the House of Commons.

“We’ll see what the process yields,” said Liberal MP Scott Brison, who served with Fontana in Martin’s cabinet.